Hebrews 11, verse 33, through faith kingdoms
were subdued. Through faith righteousness is
wrought, promises obtained. The mouth of hungry lions stopped. Literal fire, unable to burn
people. Great escapes, people who out of weakness were
made strong to be valiant to fight the armies of the aliens. By faith, women received their
dead loved ones raised up. There were others who were tortured,
mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in half, slain with the
sword, deprived of their property, living in dens and caves of the
earth. I've entitled this message, The
Power of Faith. Now, let me say by way of introduction
that Peter said we're kept by the
power of God through faith, and I think this will give us some
understanding of what is meant by the power of faith. It's the omnipotence of God working
through faith. It's not faith itself, but it's
the power, the omnipotence of God that works through faith,
the power of faith. You know, that's something that
I'm persuaded none of us know enough about as we should. The
power of faith. Now, faith is the saving grace. Ephesians chapter two, verses
eight and nine, we read these blessed words, for by grace are
you saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we're his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. Now, when I say faith is the
saving grace, that means it doesn't work for salvation. That's simple
enough, isn't it? One of my favorite scriptures
is Romans chapter four, verse five, to him that worketh not
but believeth. On him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. I love the first verse of Hebrews
chapter 11. Look with me there in verse one.
Now, faith. is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Now I hope that when my
name is called on judgment day, I will be found to be one who
has no sin. What a hope. The hope of justification,
the hope of because of the righteousness and merits of Christ is my very
righteousness. I'll stand before God. He's not
going to look at me and say, well, I know you sin while you're
here, but you're forgiven now. No, I'm going to be justified. One who has never sinned. And that's my hope. I have a
hope that I'm going to hear him say to me, well done, thou good
and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. What an entrance that'll be.
I have a hope. And I have a hope that everything between now and
then is working together for my good. Everything. You can't
take that too far. That's everything. Every second
of every minute of every hour, everything is working together
for my good and for his glory. Now, I have a hope. Can I see
it? Nope. Can I see that I stand before
God sinless? Can I look in my heart and say,
oh, sinlessness? No, I can't see that. Can I see
that these things that are so difficult, that are so troublesome,
that are so wearying, that are so frustrating, can I see that
those things are working together for my good? No, not at all. But faith is the evidence of
things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Faith is the ground, faith alone. I love our Lord's words in John
chapter six, verses 28 and 29, when they said, what must we
do that we might work the works of God? He said, this is the
work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent, period. Now, because of what faith is,
God's gift, and because of its object, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who he is and what he did, that's faith's object. May I learn that? The faith's object is who Jesus
Christ is and what he actually accomplished on Calvary's tree.
That's faith's object. And when I understand who works
this in us, God, the Holy Spirit, I see that faith is the most
powerful thing in the universe. Now it's God's power. Don't ever
look at it in any other way. I'm afraid people think if I
can just tap into more faith, I can have more victory in my
life. You're missing it. Faith is the power of God. That's what it's in. were kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Now when that
man cried in Mark chapter nine to the Lord, if thou can't do
anything, now think about what he's saying to Christ. If thou
can't do anything, he was in the wrong place, wasn't he? What
did the Lord say? If thou can't believe, All things
are possible. That word possible is taken from
the word power. It's within the power of God. All things are possible. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? No. All things are possible to
him that believeth. Now, faith has omnipotence giving
it and faith as much as anything else was simply believing in
his ability. I want you to think of the simplicity of this. We
make faith way too complicated. I love what's said about Abraham.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was
strong in faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded. He was convinced of this that
what God had promised He was able also to perform. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded. Of what Paul? That he's able. I am persuaded that he is able
to save me with no contribution from me. Are you persuaded of
that? Are you persuaded of when he
said it is finished, salvation was accomplished? That's what
Paul's saying. I'm persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed, entrusted to him against that
day. The power of faith arises from
the power of God. And we see in this passage of
scripture, how faith enabled these people to go through this.
Now, everything in this passage literally happened. It was an
actual event. You know, when it says, it stopped
the mouths of lions, I love to think about this, Daniel. being
lowered down into that den of hungry lions. It was a pit. And
their mouths were stopped. I don't think they were even
allowed to roar. Their mouths were stopped and there he is.
Quench the violence of fire. I think of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. They literally went into that
fiery furnace that was so hot it burned up the people and threw
them in. And Nebuchadnezzar looks, and he sees not three men walking,
but four men walking, and the fourth likened to the Son of
God, and the flame had no power on their bodies. That is a historic
event that took place. These are all literal historical
events, but they teach us something, like I said, I'm persuaded we
know far too little of. I know I know far too little
of it. The power of faith. Now I repeat the words of the
Lord, all things are possible. All things are possible to him
that believeth. Now the first thing, He says
in our text is through faith kingdoms were subdued and that
word subdued means overcome. How many kingdoms were subdued
even by David and by many of the Kings, they were subdued
by faith. It was the power of God working
in their behalf. And I want you to turn a few
pages over to first John chapter four. First John chapter four. I'm
sorry, chapter five. The word subdued means overcome.
Listen to this. First John chapter five, verse
four, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world but he that believeth? that Jesus is the son of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the son of God? According to that scripture,
you've overcome the world. Faith subdues kingdoms. Look what it says next in our
text in verse 33, who through faith wrought righteousness. worked righteousness, performed
righteousness. Now let me remind you, faith
is the product of the new nature. It doesn't come to you as some
act of your will where you decide to believe. I remember hearing
a song once that a songwriter said, I have decided to live
like a believer. Oh, Congratulations. But that's
not the way faith works. It's not some decision of resolve
you make. Listen to this. Faith comes from
being born of God. John 1, 12 and 13 says, that as many as received him,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on his name, which were born. Not of
blood, not because of some kind of fleshly relationship, not
of the will of the flesh, not because a bunch of men got together
and decided, we're gonna pray until God comes down and brings
revival. Not because of the will of man,
because of an act of man's free will, but of God. Because a believer has a holy
nature, every good work performed is righteousness being wrought,
Ephesians 2.10 says, for we are his workmanship. Created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. Listen to this scripture from
1 John. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. And that comes through faith. And then it says next in verse
34, through faith, or verse 33, they obtained promises. They obtained, through faith,
they obtained promises. I've already quoted that. Abraham
staggered not at the promise of God, for he was unbelief,
but was strong in faith. God said, Abraham, Can you count
the stars? No. So shall thy seed be. Abraham didn't have any evidence. He didn't have any kids. He didn't
have any, he didn't have one child. But what did he do? He
believed the promise. With no other evidence, he believed
the promise. He was fully persuaded that what
God had promised He was able also to perform. Abraham believed the promise
by faith and received the promise by faith. The only way you receive
the promise of God is by faith, not by what you see on the inside,
but because God said it in his word. I hate it when people say,
God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. No, no, God
said it, that settles it eternally. Forever, oh Lord, thy word is
settled in the heavens. He says in verse 33, through
faith, stop the mouths of lions. Now
as Daniel, saw the mouth of the hungry lion stopped. I love to
think about that, don't you? He was lowered into that lion's
den, and like I said, if their mouths were stopped, I don't
believe they even roared. Have you ever heard the roar of a lion? It is an
awesome sound, but I don't think they made a whimper. They weren't
allowed to. Daniel was stopped, brought down
into that pit, and those lion's mouths were stopped. Now, what
I thought about, His faith stopped the mouths of all who would rise
up against us. Let me read Isaiah 54, seven. No weapon that's formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
up against thee shalt thou condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, for their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Who shall lay anything? When
Paul says this, he's bringing this as a challenge. Bring it
on. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God justified it. Who can condemn? Bring it up. You can't do it.
It's Christ that died. Yea, rather that it's risen.
The mouth of lions are stopped. Verse 34. By faith, The violence of fire was quenched.
And I love, I've already referred to it, I love the story in Daniel
chapter three of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Nebuchadnezzar
made that golden image 90 feet high. Everybody was commanded
to bow to it. They didn't do it. Everybody
else did. They didn't. And it was brought
to Nebuchadnezzar's attention. He said, if you don't bow, At
the image that I've made, when you hear those musical instruments,
you're going to be cast into a fiery furnace. And who's the
God that will deliver you out of my hands? I love their answer. If God wills, he can deliver
us without any problem. But be it known to you whether
he delivers us or not, we will not bow the image to that idol. And so they had the furnace heated
seven times hotter than it normally was. And they bound them, tied
up. And even the men that threw them
in, when they threw them in, the flames came out and consumed
them. And these three Hebrew children were thrown, bound into
the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar looks, he says
to his buddies, did we not throw three men in? Lo, I see four
walking, and the fourth is like unto the
Son of God, and the flame has no power over them. And they
walked out of that furnace, and they didn't even smell like fire,
nor was a hair singed by faith. Verse 34. escape the edge of
the sword, the gospel is the way of escape. Now, do you hear that? The gospel,
believing on Christ is the way of escape. Looking to Christ
is the way of escape. Out of weakness, verse 34, out
of weakness, were made strong. Paul said, when I'm weak, then
am I strong. When you're without strength
and you have no other hope but Christ alone, that's the greatest
strength you're ever gonna experience. You know that? When you look
to Christ only, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, you
look to Christ only and you have nothing else, that's the greatest
strength you'll ever have. without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Notice what he says next in verse
34. Waxed valiant in fight, turned
to flight the armies of the aliens. Waxed valiant in fight, brave
in fight, turning to flight the armies of the aliens. And we
have so many examples of that happening in the Old Testament
where the Lord fought their battles for them. But we have a battle
to fight, individually. The world, the world's no friend
of grace. The world's no friend of Christ.
The flesh, you have a sinful, evil nature that you're called
upon to battle. The devil, I love that passage of scripture
where the devil is called the accuser of the brethren in Revelation
chapter 12 who accuses them day and night before God and says
they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. And the word of their testimony,
what was that? We overcame by the blood of the lamb. and they
love not their lives unto death. This is a gospel worth dying
for. They turn to flight the armies of the aliens. You know,
when people, I hear people say, well, he or she, they're living
defeated Christian lives. What? What do you mean by that? Thanks be unto God who always
causes us to triumph in Christ. We're more than conquerors. That's
talking about every believer, a defeated Christian life. That's
so, that's ungodly to talk about a believer's life like that.
Thanks be unto God who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And then faith. Look what verse
35, women received their dead raised to life again. You remember
when that happened with Elisha and raising the woman's son who
had died. And there are several instances
of that. But the thing is, faith is a resurrection grace. What
do I mean by that? When you're quickened from the
dead, you know what you do? You believe. Only being quickened from the
dead causes true saving faith. When you're quickened from the
dead, when you're given life, you believe. Now, logically, you have to have life before
you can believe. Amen. Understand that logically,
you have to have life before you can believe. But chronologically,
they come at the precise same time. When you live, you believe. When you believe, you live. It's the resurrection grace.
And in He says, others were tortured. Now look at what these people
endured in verse 35. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance. If you deny the faith, you'll
be delivered. No, we'll be tortured. How many people have died at
the stake for the cause of God and truth and Christ, and they
wouldn't accept deliverance. All they had to do is say, I
deny it. They wouldn't do it. Now that's
mighty grace. Can't be anything else. And it
was through faith. Verse 36, and others had a trial
of cruel mockings and scourgings. Yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were thrown in prison. They
were stoned. They were sawn and sundered.
Think about that. They were strapped down on a table with a big old
saw and they sawed them in half. They were tempted, they were
slain with the sword. They wondered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom
the world was not worthy. Isn't that the truth? Of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth. And these
all, having attained a good report, through their heroic actions.
It doesn't say that, does it? These all having obtained a good
report and who is the one who gave this report? This is God's
grade. I want to say this reverently,
this is God's report card. And they obtained a good report. And how did they obtain this
good report? Through faith. Not through their
heroic acts, not through being willing to be sawed in half in
order to not deny the gospel, not through being thrown in prison.
We admire that and we want to be that way, don't we? I want
to be all in, in every way that you can Describe it. I want to
be all in. I want to be somebody willing
to have all my property confiscated. I want to be someone willing
to be thrown into a lion's den before I bow. Don't you want
to be these great worthies of faith? But this good report they
had wasn't because of their heroic acts. It was because of faith
in Christ. God was the one that gave this
report. And they had a good report through
faith. Let me repeat this again, to
him that worketh not, would that be you? You know that if salvation is
by works, you don't have a chance. If salvation's depended upon
anything that you do before God can save you, you're toast. You
work not. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. You believe that
what Christ did made the way for God to be absolutely just,
consistent in all of his glorious character. and justify you. You believe that? Do you know
I really believe that? By the grace of God, I really
believe that. This is my hope. We trust the righteousness and
merits of Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.
Looking unto Jesus, he goes on to say in Hebrews 12 too. Now
looking unto Jesus and looking unto Jesus. I love the simplicity
of that, looking, looking. If I say, look at me, you don't
think, well, what's he mean by that? You look, you look, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher Now let's go on reading, verse
39. And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise. God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us,
these worthies of the faith, should not be made perfect. They're
not going to be saved independently of us. Now, what did he mean
when he said, having not received the promises? We'll look in verse
13 of this chapter, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13. These all talking about Abel
and Enoch. And Noah and Abraham and Sarah,
that's who's mentioned before this verse, these all died in
faith, not having received the promises. As a matter of fact,
Abraham never stepped one foot into the land God promised him.
Not one foot. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.
and were persuaded of them. They believed them and they embraced
them as good news. And they confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They said, well, this
world's not my home. If you have faith, you know that. This world's
not my home. I'm not of this world. Every
believer knows that. Now, what is this thing about,
back to our text in the end of Hebrews chapter 11. And these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect." Now these worthies,
these heroes of faith, will not be made perfect without us. Think about that. The Lord said in John chapter
six, verse 39, this is the will of him who sent me, that of all
which he had given me, I should lose nothing, not one. You see, if he lost one, guess
what? All of them are going to be lost. If he lost even one,
but in this thing of salvation, While we're saved individually,
we're all saved together by what Christ did. You see, what Christ
did saved every one of his people completely. And that is salvation. What he did. They're not going
to be independent of us. We're not going to be independent
of them. Hebrews 2.11 says, both he that sanctifies and they who
are sanctified, that's every believer, are all of one. For the witch cause, he's not
ashamed to call them brethren. If they're not all perfected,
none of them will be perfected. Now, this demonstrates to us
just how much Christ is salvation. We admire these men that we just
read about. We want to be like them, but
they're not to be put up on a pedestal. They had the same report that
any believer has, a good report through faith, looking to Christ
alone. God having bestowed, provided
some better thing for us, If God be for us, who can be against
us? That's the elect, every believer. While faith produces such power,
we're all saved the same way, by what he did. Alone. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of thy son. How we thank you for the precious
gift of faith that looks to the justifying work of thy blessed
son that you sent. And Lord, we ask that we might
be able to walk in the steps of these glorious examples of
faith. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray.